[With
Kormiltsev's appointment as CINC, though no formal announcement was made,
the Ground Troops re-emerged as a separate branch of service.]

Tthe
command was officially established on December 1, 2001. The command now comprises the Ground
Troops Main Directorate, Main Combat Training Directorate of the Armed
Forces, Missile and Artillery Troops Directorate, Ground Troop's Air
Defence, Directorate of NBC Protection chief, and the Directorate of the
Engineering Troops" (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey 20 Apr 01;
ITAR-TASS 1 Dec 01).

".
. . the substantial enhancement of the status, role, and potential of the
new Ground Forces commander Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Kormiltsev
will be promoted by the fact that it is planned to make a number of the
Defense Ministry's central directorates subordinate to him. In
particular this applies to the Main Directorate for Combat Training, the
directorates of the chief in command of the missile and artillery troops,
the chief of the tactical air defense, the chief of army aviation, the
chief of the radiation, chemical, and biological defense troops, and the
chief of engineering troops." (Khodarenok, Nezavisimaya
Gazeta, 29 Apr 01).

[BIOGRAPHICAL
INFORMATION, KORMILTSEV: born on 14 March 1946 in Omsk. Russian. Attended Omsk Higher Combined-ArmsCommandSchool and the M.V. Frunze (1978) and General Staff
(1990) Academies. He has commanded a platoon, a company, a
battalion, a regiment, deputy division commander (1983-1988), a division,
a district training center in Omsk, an army corps, and an army (Far East
MD) and been Transbaykal District First Deputy Commander (Nov. 1994).
Commander of the Transbaykal Military District since September
1996-1998. (Krasnaya Zvezda 17 Dec 96 p 1). Commander,
Transbaykal MD until it’s amalgamation with Siberian MD, (ITAR-TASS 1135
GMT 23 Nov 98). Commander of the Siberian MD (ITAR-TASS 1135 GMT 23 Nov 98). (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey 19 Dec 00).]

[The
former Chief of the Main Directorate of the Ground Troops was BUKREYEV, Yuriy Dmitriyevich, Col-Gen, retired (Agentstvo voyennykh novostey, 14:27 MT, 31 July 2000).]

[Noted
as a "Acting Commander" of the North Caucasus Troop Grouping, (ORT 1, 12 Jun 01).
Appointed Commander --- 15 Oct 01. "Head of the unified federal
troops group in the North Caucasus Colonel [?] General Vladimir Moltenskoy
is appointed first deputy commander of the Russian Land Forces, a source
in the group headquarters told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
… Moltenskoy was made the group's commander in July 2001. He
succeeded Colonel General Velery Baranov, who is now deputy commander of
the Interior Ministry troops. (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, 25 Sep 02).]

[MOLTENSKOI: "Born on July 21, 1950 in the village of
Vygonichi, Brest Region, he graduated from the Tashkent Higher Tank
Command School in 1971 and served as platoon and company commander in the
Central Group of Forces and company commander, deputy battalion commander and
battalion commander in the Carpathian Military District. In 1982 he
graduated from the MilitaryAcademy of the Armour and served in the Far Eastern
Military District as chief of staff - deputy regiment commander, regiment
commander, chief of staff -deputy division commander, and head of the
district centre that trained junior specialists. He subsequently commanded
a division in the Western Group of Forces. Upon graduation from the MilitaryAcademy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces
in 1996, he was appointed chief of staff - first deputy commander of an
army corps. In January 2001 he was promoted to deputy commander of the
troops of the North Caucasian Military District for emergencies and
commander of the Joint Group of Forces for the counter-terrorist
operations in the North
Caucasus. He was
appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Land Force by presidential
decree of September 16, 2002" (Military News Bulletin No 011, 1 Nov
02).]

[Previous Deputy was POPOV, Vladimir I., Lieutenant-General
(Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey 9 Nov 01). "Popov was born in the
town of Troitsk, Chelyabinsk region, 24 December 1949. He graduated from the ChelyabinskHigherTankCommandCollege (1971). Served as platoon and company
commander and chief of staff of a separate battalion in the Group of
Soviet Forces in Germany. Armored TroopsMilitaryAcademy (1978). Dispatched to the Far Eastern Military
District where he held the posts of battalion commander, chief of staff -
deputy regiment commander, regiment commander, chief of staff - deputy
division commander and division commander. GeneralStaffAcademy (1991). Appointed first deputy army commander in
the Volga Military District. After that he commanded an army and was first
deputy commander of the troops of the district. Promoted from the
post of the deputy commander of the Volga military district" (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey 9 Nov 01).
Appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Land Force by a presidential
decree of November 6, 2001. (Voyeninform Military News Agency, 1 Jan
02).]

["Rebrikov was born in the village of Tisul, Kemerovo region, in July 1950. He graduated from the OmskTankTechnicalCollege in 1970 and ArmoredTroopsMilitaryAcademy in 1976. His previous post has been that of the
deputy chief of the Main Ordnance Department in the Ministry of
Defense" (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey 9 Nov 01). Vladimir
Aleksandrovich Rebrikov was born on 28 July 1950 in Kemerovo Oblast. He completed the
OmskTankEngineeringSchool in 1970, and the ArmoredTroopsMilitaryAcademy in 1976. He has served in the
Central Group of Forces and the Belarusian, Moscow, and Far East
military districts, in positions ranging from deputy commander of a tank
company to deputy commanding general of a district for
armaments. He was chief of staff for armaments of the Ground
Forces from 1996 to 1998, and deputy chief of the GABTU [Main Directorate
for Motorized and Armored Vehicles and Tanks] and chief engineer from 1998
to 2002. He is a candidate of military sciences.
He has been chief of armaments and deputy commanding general of the Ground
Forces for armaments since 2002. He has received two orders
and medals, and he holds the rank of lieutenant-general (Nezavisimoye
Voyennoye Obozreniye, 7 Feb 03).]

["Yevnevich was born in Batumi on September 2, 1951, graduated from the Ryazan higher airborne command college in 1972, FrunzeMilitaryAcademy in 1983 and General Staff Academy in 1992. He
served in airborne troops and Land Forces, led a separate airborne assault
brigade in Afghanistan in 1986 to 1988, commanded the 2nd guard Taman motorized rifle division stationed in the Moscow region in 1992 to 1995. Yevnevich became Hero of
Russia in 1993 and was appointed to his post in the Trans-DniestriaRepublic in November 1995" (Agentstvo Voyennykh
Novostey, 16 Jan 02).]

["General Kormiltsev reported that he considers this to be an
extremely successful step. The point is, the commander in chief
stressed, that Yevnevich has acquired many years of experience primarily
in the Dniester region not only of commanding major military
subunits but also of working with the local population and of dealing with
international social and military organizations. Valeriy Yevnevich
would have had a hard time in his new post without thisknowledge. After all, the new commander's main
functions will be to coordinate the actions of Russian peacekeeping
contingents and to collaborate with NATO and UN forces in military
conflict zones" (Izvestiya, 16 Jan 02).]

["Kotenko was born in
the village of Vlasovka,
Rostov region, in January
1948. He graduated from the Baku High Command College in 1970, FrunzeMilitaryAcademy
in 1982 and General Staff Academy in 1989. Kotenko was assigned the post
of the deputy chief of the Land Forces Main Department in 1998"
(Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, 9 Nov 01).]

22nd Separate Motorised-Rifle Brigade

·[Was the
22nd Separate Airborne Regiment stationed in Bosnia. "The regiment is ordered to reduce the number
of servicemen by 200. Moreover, the regiment is to be renamed separate
motorised rifle battalion that will comprise 700 people, including 140 officers
and warrants, and will be subordinate to the Land Forces." (Agentstvo
Voyennykh Novostey, 13 Sep 01).]

·[Established
"to accomplish combat missions in Bosnia. The brigade is manned mainly with retired
paratroopers who signed contracts on professional military service within the peacekeeping
contingent in the Balkans. Almost all high-ranking officers of the brigade are
from the Land Forces" (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, 24 Oct 01).]

·["By June
1 [2002] the contingent in Bosnia will comprise some 270 officers, warrant
officers and professional motorized riflemen, who are to continue accomplishing
peacekeeping missions within Multinational Brigade North stationed in
northeastern Bosnia. The number of checkpoints and area of responsibility of
Russian servicemen will be reduced as well. The withdrawal of Russian
servicemen from Bosnia will start in the second half of April. The Russian separate airborne
brigade comprising 1,300 servicemen was formed in accordance with the Russian
president's decision and the defense minister's directive on December 11,
1995. It accomplishes
peacekeeping missions in northeastern Bosnia since January 1996. The brigade's area of
responsibility totals 1,750 square kilometers, and the length of the
Serb-Moslem separation line amounts to 75 kilometers. The brigade was reduced
by over 300 servicemen and transformed into the 22nd separate airborne regiment
in June 2001. After the airborne troops handed peacekeeping functions over to
the Leningrad militarydistrict in September 2001, the regiment was
once again transformed into the brigade comprising 600 servicemen"
(Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, 2 Apr 02).]

Armaments
[Ground Troops]

Ground
Troops' Aviation [Air Force]

"According to a report Izvestiya received from the
Russian Ministry of Defense, 'a decision has been made to incorporate the
aviation of the Ground Forces in the RF Air Force before 1 November 2002'
" (Izvestiya, 3 Sep 02).

["MOSCOW. Jan 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Army aviation of the
Land Forces was reassigned of the Air Force on January 1, 2003" (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, 4
Jan 03).]

[FBIS Transcribed Text]MOSCOW. Sept 5
(Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Armed Forces Army Aviation Directorate will have
been disbanded by December 1 under the Russian defense minister's decree, a
source in the directorate told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.

"The Russian Armed Forces Army Aviation Directorate has
received the Russian defense minister's decree, ordering it to be disbanded
by December 1," the source said.

He said that the directorate would be replaced by the Air
Force Army Aviation Directorate, being tailored at the Air Force Command.

The new directorate will be headed by Lieutenant General
Alexander Zelin, the Air Force aviation chief and deputy Air Force
commander-in- chief.

·"Surtsukov was born in
Saratov in 1954.He graduated from the
Saratov Higher Air Force Pilots College in 1974. He served in the 50th mixed
aviation regiment in Afghanistan
from 1981 to 1982, holding the posts of deputy squadron commander and squadron
commander. In 1987, Surtsukov graduated from the Gagarin Air Force Academy with
honors. In 1994, he was appointed senior pilot inspector in the aviation department
of the Moscow military district. In
1998, Surtsukov graduated from the General Staff Academy. In 2001, he became
chief-of-staff and first deputy commander of the army aviation. Surtsukov has a
total of 3,300 flight hours on more than 10 types of helicopters. He is a
sniper pilot and a distinguished military pilot of the Russian
Federation. He has been awarded the Order of
Lenin, the Order of Red Banner, the Order of Courage, the Order of Friendship
of the Peoples, and other orders and medals" (Agentstvo Voyennykh
Novostey, 27 Oct 03).

GroundTroopsAviationTrainingCenter

[The
Main Combat Training Directorate, as one of the "Main and Central Directorates," was subordinate to the General
Staff. However, Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov, ordered it
resubordinated directly to Deputy Minister of Defense and CINC, Ground
Troops, Col-Gen Nikolay Kormiltsev, "until the Main Command of the
Russian Ground Troops is set up, which must be done by 1 December
2001." (Interfax, 5 May 01).]

SKORODUMOV "has service in Afghanistan and Chechnya under his
belt. He came to his current post from the position of Deputy
Commander of Troops of the Siberian Military District
(SibVO). According to reports, this appointment was lobbied
for by the current Deputy Minister of Defense - Commander-in-Chief of the
Ground Troops Col. Gen. Nikolay Kormiltsev (until March he commanded the
SibVO troops)" (Kommersant, 16 Jun 01).]

Military University of Line-troops Air Defense of the
RF Armed Forces

"The Military Academy of Ground Troops Air Defense was
transformed in 1998 into the Military University of Line-troops Air
Defense of the RF Armed Forces. In Essence it is the first military
higher educational institution, created wihtin the new Russian Armed
Forces" (Krasnaya Zvezda, 4 Apr 02).

Combined-Arms
Academy of the RF Armed Forces

Far
Eastern Higher Combined-Arms Command School

675021 Благовещенск Амурской
обл., ул. Ленина, 158.

Специальность:
многоцелевые гусеничные и колесные машины.

Квалификация - инженер. (KrasnayaZvezda, 27 Mar 01).

Moscow
Military Institute

["The Moscow Military Institute started on
Wednesday [27 February] to elaborate training programs and documents for
adoption of the four-year training cycle in several military educational
establishments of the Ground Troops. A spokesman for the Defense
Ministry Military Education Directorate told Interfax-Military News
Agency that the abolition of the five-year training course and adoption
of the four-year cycle were elements of the reform that is underway in
the ministry's education structure. The first to adopt the four-year
cycle are the Far Eastern Military Institute in Blagoveshchensk, Amur region,
Moscow Military Institute, Novosibirsk Military Institute, Chelyabinsk
Tank Institite and affiliate of the Chelyabinsk Tank Institute in Kazan.
Graduates of these institutes will get higher professional educational
diplomas in personnel management. The elaboration of programs and
documents is supervised by Lieutenant General Vladimir Popov, deputy
commander of the Land Forces" (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, 27 Feb
02).]

The Saratov affiliate of the
Mikhailov Artillery University will be disbanded in June. "Preparations
for the disbandment of the affiliate are nearly completed, and it will
be disbanded in June," chief of the Russian Armed Forces missile
troops and artillery department Lieutenant General Vladimir Zaritsky
told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday. "First- and
third-year students have already been transferred from the affiliate to
the university's main facilities in St. Petersburg, fourth-year students
will be transferred after taking exams, and fifth-year students will
complete studies in Saratov and then leave for military units,"
Zaritsky said. He noted that the disbandment goes in line with the Armed
Forces reform program. "A regional center for training junior
specialists for the missile troops and artillery will be established at
facilities of the affiliate," Zaritsky stressed. (Agentstvo
Voyennykh Novostey,30 Apr 03).

Political Work Dept.

[Chechetenko was born in the town
of Yeisk in the Krasnodar territory in 1951. He graduated from the Novosibirsk higher
general military and political college and the Military-Political Academy. He
served in the Kiev and Siberian military districts as well as in the central
administration of the Land Forces. Besides, he fought in Chechnya from 1994 to
1996 and from 1999 to 2000 (Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey 14 Dec 01).]